


rest easy (for the world is ours to keep)

by JBS_Forever



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Drabble, Fix-It, just another fic on my quest to make Endgame not hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 06:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18773317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JBS_Forever/pseuds/JBS_Forever
Summary: **ENDGAME SPOILERS**The world goes quiet in the aftermath.





	rest easy (for the world is ours to keep)

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by [Spidey-Art's](https://spidey-art.tumblr.com/) latest [masterpiece](https://spidey-art.tumblr.com/post/184634550989/shh-hey-hey-im-sorry-i-scared-you-pete?is_highlighted_post=1/) and my desire for art to be canon.
> 
> A few people messaged me on Tumblr and asked me to put this on AO3, so here you go <3

The world goes quiet in the aftermath.

Peter sits on a hard plastic chair, nails digging into his palms. On a loop in his brain, Tony’s eyes go glossy, blank. Hands pull at his arms, easing him away. There was triumph – a victory, he thinks. Voices beside him saying, “He did it,” and, “We won,” and, “There’s still time. We need to get him to surgery.”

Peter threads his fingers into his hair and yanks hard, bringing himself back to the hospital. May is downstairs, talking to someone about something he can’t remember. At the window, T'Challa stands with his back to Peter, looking out at the stars. Everyone is everywhere, but right here, it’s only the two of them in this little lobby, waiting for answers.

It’s been sixteen hours. Sixteen hours since Tony was taken from the battlefield and portalled here by Dr. Strange to be saved, and Peter hasn’t slept, red-eyed and haunted and numb.

Have they won?

“You should rest,” T'Challa says, turning toward him.

Peter slides the sleeves of his jacket over his knuckles. They all look ridiculous, clad in their superhero gear, wandering these halls like it’s normal. “I’m okay.”

“You’re not. It’s okay that you’re not.”

Peter trembles, pulling his jacket tighter.

T'Challa is quiet a few seconds. “We have a phrase in our language _,_ ” he says. “ _Kuhlangene isanga nenkohla._  It means, 'The wonderful and the impossible have joined together.'” He touches a palm to the jagged pieces of necklace that lay flat against his collarbone. He breathes deep, as if reminding Peter to do the same. “I know you’re hurting. But remember that Tony did the impossible so you could have the wonderful. The universe is restored and we have his noble act to thank, no matter what happens. We’ll rebuild. We’ll move forward in his honor.”

He says this with a sense of finality that makes Peter’s skin crawl, and for a moment Peter fears it’s because he’s right, because no one has told him Tony won’t make it, that he’s already gone, and he can’t help but hear May’s voice:  _The reason people tell you it’s not the end of the world is because it’s not the end of_ their _world._

Something squeezes tight in his chest. Every second he gets colder. Every second he feels Tony slipping away. Nobility, the wonderful and the impossible coming together. They won and they lost. The beginning of the universe and the end of his own.

Rhodey steps into the hallway. Peter doesn’t move, too scared to know what he has to say, too scared to hear the truth – that it’s over, that Tony is dead.

“They couldn’t save the arm,” Rhodey says, rubbing at his eyes. “But he took care of it. Typical Tony. Wasn’t even interested in any of your guys’ prosthetics. He called them ‘pretentious.'”

T'Challa smiles. “Shuri does have a tendency to go a little overboard.” He nods toward Peter, and Peter clambers to his feet, his heart pulsing in his fingertips.

“He’s – he’s okay? He’s –” Tears drip down the side of his face. A soft, relieved expression takes over Rhodey’s.

“He’s gonna be fine. Same Tony as always. You know how he is. He’s too stubborn to die.”

“Can I see him?”

“Yeah,” says Rhodey. “Come on.”

Peter stumbles after him, legs heavy like lead, and stops only long enough to turn back to T'Challa before he disappears from his sight. “Thank you,” he says.

T'Challa nods. “The wonderful and the impossible.” Behind him, outside in the sky, fireworks light up the horizon. A celebration. A new beginning. Not the end of Peter’s world after all.

They turn the corner and make their way to the last door on the left. Rhodey opens it and stands aside, letting Peter in first. Machines beep, steady and comforting. A vision of Titan dances in his memory, everything crumbling to dust, tilted off its axis, Peter begging to stay.

Tony looks up at him in the doorway. “Hey, kid,” he says, and lifts a red, metal arm that’s been made to look like the Iron Man suit. His hand opens and closes. “Like my new get-up?”

From his bedside, Pepper breathes out a laugh, more air than anything else. Tony sits propped up in bed, an IV taped to the back of his real hand, bandages peeking out from behind his neck and around the places metal meets skin. At Peter’s stare, he reaches up to poke at his cheek. “Looks real, huh? Completely synthetic. Helen Cho’s a genius. Ask Pepper if she can tell the difference. Pep, can you tell the difference?”

Peter doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and he doesn’t care. He hears the small explosions outside. He hears the little victories. He hears the universe living again – hears  _Tony_  living again.

“I –” He licks his lips and tastes salt.

Pepper squeezes Tony’s leg and stands. “I’ll give you a minute,” she says, patting Peter’s shoulder as she passes. Peter hears the door click closed behind her and the sound urges him forward to the edge of Tony’s mattress where his knees hit the frame and he tips forward, collapsing against Tony, arms wrapping around him. He feels the startle of it shake through Tony, but it’s gone just as fast. One hand comes to rest on his back, the other on top his head.

Peter’s life has ended and started over again enough times in the last two days to know words can never be enough. Face pressed into the fabric of Tony’s hospital gown, he just cries.

“Shh. Hey, hey.” Tony tightens his grip. “I’m sorry I scared you, Pete.”

A machine creaks. Around them, the antiseptic smell of bleach and lemon cleaning products overpower the room. Somewhere, something tilts back to where it belongs.

“It’s okay, kid,” Tony says. He makes no motion to move, just lets Peter cling to him and lets himself cling to Peter too.

Five years gone and back.

The universe settles, wonderful and impossible.

“It’s okay.”

They won.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Drabbles are really hard for me to write, but they're a great exercise I need to do more often. The line "the reason people tell you it's not the end of the world" is from the show "Sorry For Your Loss" which stars Elizabeth Olsen and is amazing and I would recommend if you need a good cry.
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> [My Tumblr](https://jbsforever.tumblr.com/)  
> [Spidey-Art's Tumblr](https://https://spidey-art.tumblr.com/)


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